Garcia de Oteyza T, Grimalt J O
Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Chemical and Environmental Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18, 08034 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Environ Pollut. 2006 Feb;139(3):523-31. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2005.05.022. Epub 2005 Aug 10.
The massive oil discharge in the Saudi Arabian coast at the end of the 1991 Gulf War is used here as a natural experiment to study the ability of microbial mats to transform oil residues after major spills. The degree of oil transformation has been evaluated from the analysis of the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons by gas chromatography (GC) and GC coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The oil-polluted microbial mat samples from coastal environments exhibited an intermediate degree of transformation between that observed in superficial and deep sediments. Evaporation, photo-oxidation and water-washing seemed to lead to more effective and rapid elimination of hydrocarbons than cyanobacteria and its associated microorganisms. Furthermore, comparison of some compounds (e.g. regular isoprenoid hydrocarbons or alkylnaphthalenes) in the oil collected in the area after the spill or in the mixtures retained by cyanobacterial growth gave rise to an apparent effect of hydrocarbon preservation in the microbial mat ecosystems.
1991年海湾战争末期沙特阿拉伯海岸发生的大规模石油泄漏事件在此被用作一项自然实验，以研究微生物垫在重大溢油事故后转化油类残留物的能力。通过气相色谱（GC）以及气相色谱与质谱联用（GC-MS）对脂肪烃和芳香烃进行分析，从而评估了石油的转化程度。来自沿海环境的受油污染微生物垫样本呈现出的转化程度介于表层沉积物和深层沉积物中观察到的转化程度之间。蒸发、光氧化和水洗似乎比蓝细菌及其相关微生物更能有效且快速地去除碳氢化合物。此外，对泄漏后该区域采集的石油中或蓝细菌生长所保留的混合物中的某些化合物（如规则类异戊二烯烃碳氢化合物或烷基萘）进行比较，结果显示微生物垫生态系统中存在明显的碳氢化合物保存效应。
